Varney the Vampire eBook

“Hastily I placed my hand upon the region of
the heart, and to my great delight I found it still
warm. I drew off the cap that covered the face,
and then, for the first time, my eyes rested upon the
countenance of him who now calls himself—­Heaven
only knows why—­Sir Francis Varney.”

“Good God!” said Henry, “are you
certain?”

“Quite.”

“It may have been some other rascal like him,”
said the admiral.

“No, I am quite sure now; I have, as I have
before mentioned to you, tried to get out of my own
conviction upon the subject, but I have been actually
assured that he is the man by the very hangman himself.”

“Go on, go on! Your tale certainly is a
strange one, and I do not say it either to compliment
you or to cast a doubt upon you, but, except from
the lips of an old, and valued friend, such as you
yourself are, I should not believe it.’

“I am not surprised to hear you say that,”
replied the doctor; “nor should I be offended
even now if you were to entertain a belief that I
might, after all, be mistaken.”

“No, no; you would not be so positive upon the
subject, I well know, if there was the slightest possibility
of an error.”

“Indeed I should not.”

“Let us have the sequel, then.”

“It is this. I was most anxious to effect
an immediate resuscitation, if it were possible, of
the hanged man. A little manipulation soon convinced
me that the neck was not broken, which left me at once
every thing to hope for. The hangman was more
prudent than I was, and before I commenced my experiments,
he said,—­

“’Doctor, have you duly considered what
you mean to do with this fellow, in case you should
be successful in restoring him to life?’

“‘Not I,’ said I.

“‘Well,’ he said, ’you can
do as you like; but I consider that it is really worth
thinking of.’

“I was headstrong on the matter, and could think
of nothing but the success or the non-success, in
a physiological point of view, of my plan for restoring
the dead to life; so I set about my experiments without
any delay, and with a completeness and a vigour that
promised the most completely successful results, if
success could at all be an ingredient in what sober
judgment would doubtless have denominated a mad-headed
and wild scheme.

“For more than half an hour I tried in vain,
by the assistance of the hangman, who acted under
my directions. Not the least symptom of vitality
presented itself; and he had a smile upon his countenance,
as he said in a bantering tone,—­

“’I am afraid, sir, it is much easier
to kill than to restore their patients with doctors.’

“Before I could make him any reply, for I felt
that his observation had a good amount of truth in
it, joined to its sarcasm the hanged man uttered a
loud scream, and opened his eyes.

“I must own I was myself rather startled; but
I for some moments longer continued the same means
which had produced such an effect, when suddenly he
sprang up and laid hold of me, at the same time exclaiming,—­